Where I remember old things.

CBBC

Around this time of year I like to do an update, and recently I did a list of the TV shows that I have yet to review on this blog, so here is a now rather long list of the shows that I have reviewed already. If you like the look of anything that you might find interesting or think will bring back memories, why not take a look at the piece, it’d be great to know what you think!

And along with all that, I am always on the lookout for things on YouTube, and I also plan to review more things including adverts, pop music, computer games and so on. So if anything on the list looks like something you might be interested in, why not spread the word because it’ll be great to get as many people as possible have a look at these pieces.

It’s time to take a look back at the year. It’s rather odd to think that 2018 has now happened and been consigned to history, as I still think that it’s about 25 years into the future. Four years on from starting this blog I am satisfied with what I have achieved. I feel that I have settled in and I have now done almost 700 pieces, including about 150 this year, here’s a look at some of my highlights of the year.

There was plenty of excitement in pop music as the story I told about Bananarama on here that I think will always be my favourite blog piece took some further twists this year. Firstly, I found a picture on Instagram of Siobhan in a pub that I know that surprised me (and she was alongside Brix Smith who definitely had an interesting music career in the 80s too). I still honestly can’t believe that I have walked the same path in life (I don’t mean our careers of course, I mean literally the same Bethnal Green streets) as someone who fascinated me (along with many other people) with their chart-topping single back in 1992.

Not long after, a picture appeared of Siobhan alongside Marcella from Shakespear’s Sister, by all accounts the first time they had seen one another for 25 years which was really something unexpected. That all of this has actually happened still makes me happy. It’s good to know that she’s still out there but I haven’t looked at Siobhan’s Instagram page for a while now because as you see I usually get more than I bargained for…

I also did a three-part series looking back at Bananarama’s hit singles, and I reviewed Keren and Sara’s appearance on BBC1’s Pointless Celebrities. Well five years on they appeared on the show again, and managed to maintain their unbeaten record as they reached the final and this time they won the money! They made great records in the 80s, they’ve been to Bethnal Green, they win TV game shows… what’s not to admire? And it seems that there’s a new tour and album on the way too, I don’t think Siobhan is involved in these though, but who knows maybe I’ll see her in the pub one day.

I was also surprised by just how many 80s pop stars had their 60th birthdays this year. Siobhan was one of them in September, and 13 days later another one was Danielle Dax. To celebrate this I decided to do another piece about her career because I thought that her work was fascinating and there should be more about her online, and this received a positive response. After completing it I found another article about her in Number One magazine in 1984, with a full-page colour picture and everything. I also found an interview from the same time where she said that one of her icons was Cruella de Vil and I honestly don’t know if she was being serious or not.

Oh, and remember when I found a picture of Danielle from a year or two ago at a gig in Dalston where I said she had bright blue hair which I thought was odd, but I teased people by using a picture of Stormer from great 80s cartoon Jem instead? Well recently when searching online I found a picture captioned “Danielle Dax, 2018”, which is the best post-1991 picture that I have seen of her. So if you really do want to know what she looks like nowadays…

I also looked back at the hits of 80s music stars Haysi Fantaysee and Hazel O’Connor. Not long after I received a tweet from the woman herself who also retweeted the link to the piece, making it become my most-viewed blog piece that I did this year, I was thrilled and it made all the work I put into it worthwhile.I didn’t tag her in the link so there’s the positive side of vanity searching I suppose, what an endorsement. Well it’s more than Kate Garner did.

I also came across two shows this year that I previously had no knowledge of that I really enjoyed. The first of these was ITV’s drama and music series Jangles which starred Hazel O’Connor (I also noticed recently that one episode features another early-80s singer who was Honey Bane of “Turn Me On Turn Me Off” fame).I must admit that I really became fond of the bizarre character Herald (“obliging those who wish to blow their minds…“) and he is now one of my unsung TV heroes.

The other one was BBC2’s The Wolvis Family, an early-90s sitcom about a rather bizarre family that was described by the Radio Times Guide To TV Comedy as “a forgotten gem”, and that’s a statement I can’t argue with, it definitely deserves a DVD release. And the character of Mr Wolvis became another one of my favourites. Other long-forgotten comedy shows I enjoyed reviewing this year included BBC2’s It’s A Mad World World World World, ITV’s Not With A Bang and Channel 5’s Hospital!

As for game shows, I decided to review Quizmania as Greg Scott and Chuck Thomas who were among the hosts are both following me on Twitter and I hoped that it might catch their attention. I was very flattered that they both approved of the piece, with Greg saying that he was pleased by how many people still remember the show so long after it ended and Chuck giving it a like.

I also reviewed the revivals of The Crystal Maze and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (who knows, maybe they’ll revive Blockbusters one day…), along with some American versions of classic game shows including Cross Wits and Play Your Cards Right. Also this year we had to say goodbye to some familiar faces, including game show hosts Jim Bowen and Dale Winton, and children’s TV stars Barry Chuckle and Geoffrey Hayes. Thanks for lots of great memories.

I also looked back at a few other interesting shows including ITV’s Wake Up London, BBC Choice’s Hotlinks, the news coverage of the death of Diana, I admitted that I did admired the ITV Weathergens, and it was also enjoyable reviewing lots of old adverts. CBBC and CITV shows that I reviewed included Radio Roo and Mega Mania. There are plenty more reviews of classic TV memories planned to come in 2019.

My blog has had over 41,000 views this year. All that it remains for me to say is thanks for reading wherever you may be, and special thanks to everyone who liked and commented, it is much appreciated to know that you enjoy what I do!

Here’s a look back at yet another CBBC sitcom, and this one endured more than most. Bodger And Badger centred around a rather unusual double-act. There was the odd-job man Simon Bodger (Andy Cunningham, who also created the show and wrote the majority of the episodes) who was accompanied by a puppet badger (voiced by Cunningham thanks to some ventriloquism). They first appeared on CBBC’s Saturday Morning show On The Waterfront in 1988 before the got their own series in 1989.

And as always happens in these shows of course, there are some very odd situations. But for some reason, Badger was really rather fond of mashed potato, and it would often go everywhere. Bodger And Badger and for nine series, and the situation often changed. In the first series, Bodger worked in a restaurant, and from the second series, in a school, and he often had to hide the fact that he had a talking badger along with him, as he could have found that rather difficult to explain to people.

By the fifth series a new regular character was introduced, a small puppet mouse called Mousey who would often interact with Badger. By the ninth and final series, Bodger was running a B & B by the seaside, and most episodes seemed to climax with Bodger getting covered in mashed potato, but it still seemed to be funny every time. Other regular characters who got caught up in all of this throughout the years included Mr Troff, Mrs Trout and Mrs Bobbins.

Bodger And Badger eventually ran for 125 episodes that were 15 minutes long over almost a decade (the only sitcom to run for longer on CBBC was ChuckleVision), and it became one of the more popular CBBC comedy shows of its era. The show gained a lot of fans of all ages but there are still no plans for a DVD release, many people still hope that there will be one eventually. I’d definitely buy it.

Bodger And Badger was also frequently repeated, including being shown as part of the CBBC On Choice strand (which I always enjoyed watching), and it was also on repeated on BBC2, the CBBC Channel and CBeebies for many years after the final episode in 1999. Indeed, after the show left the screen the characters still had a big enough following for the show to be toured across the country (and one of these shows has been released on DVD), and Cunningham continued to perform at various events up until his death a couple of years ago.

Following on from Space Vets that I reviewed on here recently, this is another enjoyably quirky CBBC sitcom from the 90s that I remember watching, although rather than dealing with science fiction, it is closer to the horror genre. Monster Cafe was set in a old castle and centred around a cafe that was run by three very odd people… well I say people, they were more monsters really.

They were the Frankenstein’s monster-style Frankie, who was rather outrageous. There was also Mummy, who was someone wrapped in bandages and mumbled everything that they said. And then there was Igor, who was a rather large odd-job man who had a pet bin called Vinny. The other main character was the Baroness, who owned the castle and often turned up to make sure that everything hadn’t descended into chaos, but of course, this being a CBBC sitcom, it usually had.

Also occasionally appearing were some rather spooky-looking customers (this was another show that had some rather creative costume design), and often vampires and the like would turn up to try the rather horrible-looking slimy food that made steam come out of people’s ears, along with the main characters getting themselves caught in some very bizarre situations. “TV cook Kylie has been turned into a jar of pickled gherkins. Who can replace her?” was a typical episode description. Well it made me laugh…

Every episode of Monster Cafe was 15 minutes long and there were a couple of series. Once again, I’m fairly sure that there has been no VHS or DVD release, but there are a couple of other interesting things about the show. Firstly, all 30 episodes were written by Simon Davies who contributed to a few other CBBC shows around this time including the crossword puzzle game Sick As A Parrot.

I’m fairly sure that Davies also voiced some of the regular puppet characters including a skull that often commented on what was happening. In more recent years I think he was also a presenter on the award-winning Bid TV, and seemed to think nothing of doing five hours straight of warehouse clearances and technical faults, and I know I’ve done this joke before but I wouldn’t be surprised if “voiced a puppet skull” ranks much higher than “hosted on Bid TV” on his CV.

Also, Monster Cafe was repeated a few times on CBBC after it ended, it also featured in the CBBC On Choice strand, the early days of the CBBC Channel, and on BBC2. The show also unexpectedly hit the headlines in 2007 when there was a repeat run (over a decade after it had ended) on CBeebies, the BBC’s channel featuring programmes for the under-sixes, when it was abruptly pulled from the schedule when parents started to complain that it was too frightening for their children. Monster me!

This is a rather bizarre science-fiction sitcom that was shown on CBBC in the early-90s. Space Vets centred around the adventures of a spaceship called the Dispensable, which contained the Intergalactic Animal Health Service, whose aim was to help all types of ill alien animals wherever they were in the universe. It really did happen. And there was a rather memorable cast on this show.

The main cast were Captain Pubble (who was about 12 years old), although he was later replaced by Captain Skip Chip (Mark “I bet he drinks Carling Black Label” Arden). There was also Mona the receptionist (Ann “Philadelphia” Bryson, who went on to star in flop 90s ITV sitcoms Sometime, Never and Days Like These), who was rather fond of chocolate, and the dreadlocked second-in-command was called Number Two (how funny!).

Oh yes, and there was also a hat-wearing puppet dog with an American accent called Dogsbody. Each episode was 15 minutes long and there were a lot of odd moments, along with a lot of creative puppetry and costume design, which was all the more impressive considering that the show’s budget was probably about three shillings. “Will the Dispensable escape the Great Black Hole of Nauphragia?” was a typical description of what happened in an episode. Who needs Red Dwarf when you’ve got this.

Space Vets eventually ran for three series and 39 episodes on Tuesday afternoons, but that wasn’t the end of it. In 1997, Dogsbody (still voiced by the same actor) had beamed back down to Earth and turned up in a totally different CBBC show called Cartoon Critters, to introduce a collection of mouldy old cartoons that featured animals, assisted by a female dog puppet called Fleur.

I’m fairly sure that Space Vets wasn’t featured as part of the CBBC On Choice strand. However, it was repeated in the early days of the CBBC Channel in 2002, and it was also repeated on BBC2 as late as 2005, over a decade after the series ended. Five series two episodes were released on VHS, but there has been no DVD release, I feel that it deserves one as this was an enjoyably odd show.

The O Zone was a show all about pop music. It didn’t feature live performances, but it did feature interviews, music videos, and news about everything that was currently happening on the scene. Hey, it’s just like Smash Hits on the TV! Originally it was shown as part of CBBC, with the presenters mostly coming from that lineup, including Andy Crane, Andi Peters, Zoe Ball, and so on, and it would eventually run for over a decade.

Every week there would be features on the show including a look behind the scenes of the latest music videos (I remember Andi Peters seemed to interview the Pet Shop Boys on the set of their latest innovative video every other week), and the hottest news, so you’ll never have to wonder when Ant And Dec’s next single is out again. As the years passed and genres changed just about every major group from this era was interviewed.

In the mid-90s the show was relaunched with two presenters who were fairly new to TV, Jayne Middlemiss and Jamie Theakston (who would both go on to host Top Of The Pops). By this point the scheduling of the show was rather erratic. It was usually shown on BBC2 in the evenings but the timeslot changed frequently, and editions ranged from 10 to 20 minutes, although there were occasionally extended specials focusing on one group.

In later years the show had a couple of spin-offs, The Pop Zone, that was usually shown on CBBC (although I’m not really sure what the difference was), and The Phone Zone, a live show on great long-gone digital channel UK Play where viewers could phone in to request music videos (just like MTV’s Select), and presenters included Vernon Kay. However, by 2000 the format had become a little tired, so after 11 poptastic years The O Zone came to an end.